We’ve often talked about connecting the dots in your social media marketing. It’s long been a professional pet peeve to see all the social media graveyards – accounts that were created but never really used to their full potential. The social account has a few remarks and then… silence.
Our guest post today covers a subject near and dear to our marketing hearts: getting your social media accounts up, running and thriving. With no further ado, we bring you “Best Social Media Practices Which Boost SEO,” from our Australian friends across the pond. Enjoy!
There’s no denying the power of social media in the success of businesses, and specifically, with SEO. However, there’s a lot more to it than simply having a social media profile and updating it occasionally. To get the most out of it, you need to follow some guidelines that will get both your website and your profiles noticed on the web.
Use the Right Social Media Platforms
Social media is great publicity for your business, but only if you choose the correct platforms for your business. For example, virtually every business can benefit from Facebook and Twitter, but Pinterest is more suitable for restaurants or design businesses that use a lot of photos, and LinkedIn is more appropriate for a business that networks with other businesses. The most commonly used forms of social media are Facebook, Google+ Business, Google+ Local, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Foursquare. You’ll have to evaluate which are best for your business.
Your Profile and Postings
Once you’ve decided on the important social media platforms, it’s time to get started. Fill out your profile completely. At a minimum, include the business name, address, phone number, and email address. The more information that you provide, the more attention that your profile will get.
Regular posting is a must. By posting on a regular basis, you show your customers that you want to interact with them beyond just a simple monetary transaction, and this will increase your number of followers. If you only post sporadically, or almost never, customers will eventually stop following you. Along with written content, it’s good to post things like local events, coupons or special deals, and photos. You can also use content generated by users, such as pictures or videos taken by them, and reviews of your business.
You want to be seen as an authority in your business field, so present yourself as an expert. Becoming an authority on social sharing happens when an individual or organization is recognized as an expert in his field or on a particular topic. You can establish your credibility by posting useful information, along with participating in online conversations and contributing valuable information to the conversation. This creates trust, which leads to even more followers, which leads to more website traffic.
Create Great Content
This is the number one way to boost your website traffic. You have to create unique, smoothly-written, and relevant content to attract customers and readers. Figure out who your target audience is and direct your content toward them. It’s important to write not only for search engines, but for readers, too. However, don’t overwhelm your readers. Break information down into smaller chunks that are easier to read and comprehend, and make sure that all of your content is shareable. Strategically placed keywords in both your content and social media profile will also improve your search engine rankings.
Locally Optimize Posts
Optimizing your posts for local SEO is a bit different from traditional SEO methods. Local optimization really focuses on reputation management and gaining local followers. Gaining followers gives you a secondary contact list that you can use for advertising. Make sure that your social media profiles are linked to your actual business website, so that followers can easily go back and forth. Make sure that the images used in your profile are of high quality and load quickly.
Use Social Media Meta Tags
Meta tags are very useful with websites, and social media is no different. Meta tags can be used to reveal additional information about your website, before an internet user clicks on the website link. For example, you can display the type of content, the location of your business, or a description of the page. You can even display an image with your website link. The more your social media posts are shared, the more it’s noticed, and it eventually becomes a great cycle of visitors.
Encourage Inbound Links to Content
Inbound links are part of the goals of SEO, because they demonstrate that other people trust your website or profile. It’s always good to get backlinks from other websites, and it’s particularly good for local SEO when you get backlinks from local bloggers and influencers. The positive effect on SEO will result in more website traffic for your business.
Become an Authority
Being seen as an authority on a business or topic is a goal of every business owner with a website. Authority develops when someone or a business is recognized as an expert in a field or on a particular topic. Authority leads to more people trusting your website, and more trust in your website leads to more website visitors, which leads to more sales. Authority and trust develop over time, but you can help this process along by participating in online conversations regularly, and contributing valuable information to the discussions.
Track Social Media Metrics
The metrics associated with social media are just as important as website SEO metrics. Check your social media profile views, how many times a post has been shared, how many followers you have. It’s important to check these things on a regular basis, to make sure that those numbers continue to grow. The more people who follow you, the more times your posts are shared, the more your ranking in search results will improve.
Social media can be a very powerful tool to get higher rankings in search engine results. In fact, at this point, social media and SEO are completely intertwined, and should be integrated together. These best practices will have a significate impact on your business.
Author bio: Sam Cyrus is CEO and co-founder of Agseosydney, an innovative online marketing agency based in Sydney which is focused on Digital Marketing. Sam is also a creative writer and his interests are entrepreneurship, business, online marketing, SEO and social media. You can find him on Linkedin.
